


Shopping is Fun for Normal People

by Sherlock_has_the_Tardis_in221B



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Grocery Shopping, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Light Dom/sub, Little Girl - Freeform, Reader-Insert, Safe Sane and Consensual, Wrist Cuffs, dd/lg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-14 09:52:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9174994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherlock_has_the_Tardis_in221B/pseuds/Sherlock_has_the_Tardis_in221B
Summary: You and John do the shopping and you end up having an anxiety attack because of the crowds. John takes you home. Sherlock is your dom and tries to help you.





	1. Purple

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and tell me what I can improve on! DO NOT READ IF EASILY TRIGGERED!! Please be safe my lovelies!

"Bye Sherlock!" you called as you followed John out the door. He didn't respond from his spot on the couch. He had been working on a case for the past two days. Nothing you were interested in, but Sherlock said it was a 9. You were on your way to get the shopping done before Sherlock took up the fridge space with his experiments. John hailed a cab and you got in. 

You began to think about the relationship that you and Sherlock were in. It wasn't meant to happen. You two met on a case, while you working in Medical. He asked for your opinion, obviously expecting to hear something completely wrong, but was surprised when you actually helped him solve the case. You two began a relationship. Your relationship was vanilla at first because you were wary of the famous "consulting detective". You had heard all the stories and rumors about him, but passed it off as gossip. It surprised you at how human Sherlock was around you. He didn't judge you for your anxiety or your past coping skills. He didn't deduce you either, except when you asked him to. It still impressed you and it was helpful at times. Your relationship turned to BDSM after a length of time. He found some sites on your computer (he couldn't be bothered to go to the desk and get his), and you decided that you wanted to try it. You discussed limits, safe words (Purple), and the exact dynamic of your relationship. You were amazed at how good Sherlock was at taking care of you. 

John found out when he came home earlier than expected and had found you sucking on a dummy, and holding a bear. You were in your little space. You apologized and were so mortified, but he said it was fine. You two were open about your relationship from then on with John and he helped treat you after some rather intense scenes. 

"(Y/N?)" John pulled you out of your thoughts when the cab stopped. You both go inside and you have to take a few moments to settle yourself once you realized how many people were in the shop. "You okay?" John questioned, knowing about your anxiety. You nodded and smiled at him. You then went through the list, pulling things from the shelves. Shoppers were everywhere and it was hard to get through the aisles. You stayed close to John and tried to not panic. It would only make it worse. You keep focusing on the list and what you had left to get, trying to stay calm. 

You're waiting on John to get the last few things from the list. It's so loud in the shop because of the shoppers and store clerks. You try to focus on the music playing from the overhead speaker, but you can barely hear it. People keep bumping into you. Your heart starts to race and you will yourself to try and remain calm, to no avail. Your heart pounds in your ears and you're shaking. You dig your nails into your arm to try and get your focus on something else besides panic. You stop because it's not working and pull down your sleeve. You try to keep your breathing under control, It's fast but you're not in full blown panic yet. Your eyes are scanning the crown, looking for John, but your feet refuse to move.

John comes backs and sees that you're panicking. He tries to talk you down, but you can't talk. You can't think or breathe or talk or move. 

"Let's get you to Sherlock. Stay with me (Y/N.)." John tries to ground you so you can get out of the store. He gently takes your wrist, pays at a till, and hails a cab.

The cab pulls up to 221. John throws money at the driver, grabs the groceries, and leads you inside. You're crying by now and you can't focus. He leads you up the stairs. Sherlock is at the desk, typing on his blog.

 "Sherlock! It's (Y/N)." John says as he leads you to the couch. 

"(Y/N)!!" he rushes over to you, glancing at John. "What happened?!" 

"I found her having an anxiety attack. Her pulse hasn't dropped below 100, she's still shaking, and extremely pale." John informs him. John reaches down to take off your shoes and takes off your coat. You're oblivious to all of this, except you notice that it's quieter than it was before. 

Sherlock gently takes your hand and tries to get you to focus, "(Y/N), can you hear me? Do you know where you are? Say something, love, please." 

"Purple." you gasp out your safe word, the only word that you can say at the moment because you know he'll understand. You need your dom because you're not in control right now and you need him. Sherlock's eyes widen slightly and he effortlessly turns into your dominant. 

"Little One, you are safe right now. I need you to breathe for me." Sherlock gently commands. You take a shaky breathe, trying to obey.

"Good girl. Again." he repeats the command until you can breathe at a normal rate, but you're still crying and shaking. He scoops you up and puts you in his lap. 

"Tell me what you need, Little One." he gently says, his voice deep and low, the one he uses with you after scenes.

"C-cold." you stammer and sniffle, latching on to him. John comes over with fresh tea and a blanket. He hands it to Sherlock who puts it over you and says something quietly to John. He helps you drink some tea, some color returning to your face. John comes back in with a chest and sets it on the table. THE chest. The chest with all your equipment in it, including the stuff for aftercare. You shake your head into Sherlock's chest, thinking that he wants to scene. 

"It's okay, princess. We're not going to play," he started to reassure and calm you down, "I'm going to open this and you point to what you want, okay?" 

He takes the key from his pocket and shifts the both of you so that you can see. You're laying on his chest, clutching his shirt, still extremely anxious.  He opens the chest and take out the different boxes. It has three compartments, stacked on top of each other. The top has the bondage material, impact elements such as whips and floggers, your favorite leather cuffs for your wrist and ankles, a blindfold, a candle, some lubricant, and your toys. The second compartment has all of your little stuff in it, multiple pacifiers, a bear, some little clothes, a nightlight, a sippy cup, a collar that says princess, coloring books, crayons, and your favorite outfit of Sherlock's. The third compartment is for aftercare. It has a first aid kit (put together by John), some tea, some cooling lotion, a few bath bombs, a brush with your favorite Disney character on it, few bottles of water, and your favorite snacks. 

Sherlock strokes your hair and says, "Point to what you want, love. Whatever will help you. Just remember that I can say no if I don't think it's safe or it will trigger you or that you can't handle it right now." 

He continues to play with your hair patiently while you look over the items. You shakily pick up a hand and point to the first aid kit. Sherlock look at you with great concern and asks, "Did you get hurt during the attack, love?" 

You nod and show him you arm, which had not been hurting until now. It has some fingernail marks in it from when you were by yourself. you start to cry again. 

"it's okay. I'm not mad. You were just trying to calm down. We can talk about it later." He comforts you and calls for John. 

"John is going to wrap your arm so you won't hurt yourself if those feelings come back, okay? You're not in trouble." Sherlock explains as John works. He asks if you're hurt anywhere else and you shake your head. 

"What else would you like, Little One?"

You take your other hand and point to a pacifier. He takes it from the chest and puts in your mouth. He looks at you, waiting for the next item. You point to the bear and grab it and clutch at it, feeling the softness. He chuckles how cute you are. You point at the brush. Sherlock picks it up and starts brushing your hair to make you calmer while you choose. You point to his sweats and t-shirt. Sherlock picks them up and agrees that you can wear them. The last thing you point to is the leather cuffs.

Sherlock shakes his head and looks at you, "I don't think you need those, Little One. You're in a fragile state right now."

You whimper and suck on your pacifier harder and hug your bear tighter. Sherlock notes your distress and says, "I know you don't want to talk right now, but perhaps if you could explain, I would understand why you want them."  

You shake your head, not ready to talk yet. You want to explain that you want the cuffs because every time Sherlocks puts them on you, you feel safe and secure and the leather helps ground you, but you can't talk right now. You just keep pointing until your arm gets tired and you slowly put it down. 

"Do you really want them, little one?" he asks, still brushing your hair softly. You nod fervently. He takes them out and orders, "Go to the bathroom and change into my clothes. if you still want them afterward, we will try it." 

You carefully get up, standing on shaky legs. Sherlock's hands hover around you in case you fall. You walk to the bathroom and change into his clothes. You fold your clothes, according to the rules. 

John has watched all of this carefully, looking for signs of another attack or something worse. He looks to Sherlock and tries to explain, "I think that (Y/N) is okay now. She'll be tired, but that's to be expected. I'll keep and eye on her from a distance, mate." Sherlocks nods his thanks and asks if it's okay to try the cuffs, since you're coming down from an attack. John says that as long as you're comfortable, it shouldn't matter, but to watch of signs of panic because it can happen easily. 

You walk out of the bathroom and stand next to Sherlock with your head down, embarrassed and ashamed. He pulls you into his lap and strokes your hair again, knowing that it calms you down. 

"Good girl, you followed my instructions. Would you still like the cuffs?", he questions.

"Yes Sir." you say quietly and hold out your wrist. Sherlock buckles the cuff on, with just enough tightness to remind you that you have them on. He holds your hand for a moment to let you get used to the weight of it and them slowly lowers it.

"If you feel uncomfortable, tell me or John and we will take them off. Do you understand?" Sherlock says sternly.

"Yes Sir, I understand.", you say quietly. He buckles the other one on and puts your pacifier in your mouth and hands you your bear.

"I would like you to stay in here so that one of us can watch out for you since you have those on Little One." he orders gently. 

You repeat your previous response for him and take a seat on the couch. You run your finger around the edge of the cuff and hug your bear. You're calmer now than you've been all day with your Dom carefully watching you. 


	2. Don't Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You end up panicking again. It's so bad that John has to sedate you and Sherlock helps get you through it. You realize that you'll be okay and that you have the best people looking after you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hate me for this. I just wrote this after a dream I had. This has never happened to me personally, but it can happen in extreme situations. Please don't read if this will trigger you! Stay Safe, my lovelies!

You sit on the couch for a while and flip the telly to cartoons. Sherlock went to update Lestrade on a case. He didn't want to leave you, but you told him to go catch the bad guy and you would be fine. He said he would be back as soon as possible.

You're trying to get your mind clear. it feels hazy. You get a particularly bad wave of feelings and tug on the cuffs while you take a deep breathe. 

_I'm okay. just calm down. I'm okay. I wanted these on. It's fine._

You try to reason with yourself, but your mind won't let you calm down. You keep tugging on them, not sure if you want them off of not. You put them on to help relax you, but it feels like they're trapping you. You breathing rate starts to increase. John is tying on his computer, unaware of your rising panic. 

"J-John.."you call out to him, not trusting your feet. 

"You okay (Y/N)?" he asks, looking up at you. 

Tears start to steam you face and you shake you head. He comes over to the couch. You have your arms crossed against your chest and you're tugging on the cuffs. 

"You want me to take them off?" he starts to reach for your wrist, but you jerk away. You don't want him to remove them, you want Sherlock. He's your dom. He's the only one that can take them off. 

"I won't touch you if you don't want me to, but I'm gonna call Sherlock, okay?" you rapidly nodded. 

John dials and speaks "Sherlock, you need to get home. It's (Y/N)... no, she's tugging at the cuffs, but she won't let me take them off. Okay. She looks like she's on the verge of another one."

You knew he was beside you and you vaguely heard him talking, but you couldn't process what he was saying. You just wanted to breathe. Thoughts were running through your head. 

_Why can't I do this? I should be able to handle myself a few minutes without someone babying me. I thought they would help. He'll never trust me again. I'm so stupid. They're just cuffs. I can't do this._

John tried to speak to you, to no avail. You weren't registering. You were trapped in your mind. You had no idea how long it had been before Sherlock burst threw the door. He hastily put away his coat and scarf and came over and crouched in front of you. 

"Little One, can you hear me? I'm going to take the cuffs off now, okay?" he tried to warn you so he wouldn't scare you. 

He slowly moved his hands in front of you and very gently grabbed your wrist to unbuckle the cuffs. You registered him, but you didn't respond except for some small whimpers. He shushed you and quickly removed the other one. You jerked your arms back across your chest and folded in on yourself. 

Sherlock wasn't sure if you wanted to be touched or not, so he turned and spoke to John. 

You felt a lurch in your stomach. you ignored in until it happened again. You quickly jumped up and ran to the bathroom, closing and locking the door. You vomited in the toilet a few times, throwing up the little that you had eaten this morning.  Sherlock quickly ran to the door and knocked, hearing you vomit.

"Little One, open the door please." Sherlock gently commanded. 

You just sat on the floor besides the toilet. You were exhausted, you couldn't breathe, you couldn't move. You tore the bandage off your arm because it was bothering you. You started to hyperventilate. the room was so small, there wasn't enough air. You could hear Sherlock knock louder. 

"(Y/N), open the door or I will break it down." Sherlock yelled. He just wanted you to be safe and he was pretty sure that you weren't. 

The door broke open. Sherlock rushed to your side and noticed your extreme panic. "John, she's hyperventilating." 

"I can give her a sedative. Just enough to knock her out so she can regain control of her breathing and stop panicking." John offered. 

Sherlock looked at you and nodded tightly. You were going to pass out soon if this didn't stop. 

John walked forward with a syringe in his hand. You didn't even see him. You were too consumed with panic. He quickly stuck the needle in your arm and injected the sedative. 

The last thing you heard before blacking out was Sherlock saying that it's going to be okay and that he loves you. 

Sherlock picked up and carried you to the room that you shared with him. John checked your vitals regularly and Sherlock never left your side. When you woke up, you saw that you were in your room and that Sherlock was beside you. You groaned. 

"Little One." he said with so much empathy and concern that you wanted to cry. "How do you feel? Let me get John." He got up and went to get John, who followed him back inside. Sherlock pulled you close to him, knowing that you liked the contact. 

"How do you feel?" John asked. 

"I'm..." you closed your eyes, exhausted.   
"Little One?... I know it's hard, but try to vocalize what you feel." Sherlock told you.

"I'm.....tired... and I feel dizzy." you admitted.

"That's normal because of how severe your attack was. Are you anxious? Don't lie. I need to know how to help you." John ordered sternly. 

"No, I'm just tired." you replied as you sank further into Sherlock. John nodded in understanding and told Sherlock to keep and eye out for anything unusual. 

"You scared me, Little One. it's been awhile since it's been that's severe." he stated.   
"Sorry." you said weakly. 

"Shh. Don't apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm proud of you for being so strong. It's over. Now you need to sleep and recover. I'll be right here. I won't leave you. You're safe. " he reassured, pulling the covers over you and easing you down with him. You knew that this wouldn't be the last attack that you have, but you have Sherlock and John helping you so it's okay.  You're just gonna let Sherlock take care of you for the rest of the day.

 


End file.
